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Like bicycles, scooters are unsafe

Scooter safety campaign

From The San Francisco Standard:

San Francisco’s Electric Scooter Deaths and Injuries Shot Up Since Pandemic

by Eddie Sun

Fatal electric scooter incidents and injuries have shot up in San Francisco since the pandemic started in 2020, according to recently published data from the city.

According to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which unveiled the statistics through its Vision Zero initiative earlier this week, scooter injuries jumped from 145 between 2017 and 2019 to 454 from 2020 to 2022—a 213% increase.

Deaths involving scooters went from zero between 2017 and 2019 to seven between 2020 and 2022, meaning all such fatalities were recorded since 2020, according to the SFMTA. (emphasis added)

Data collected by Vision Zero includes both privately owned and ride-share scooters.

These findings coincide with recent accounts of dangerous scooter incidents, including a scooter-bicyclist collision on Wednesday and a July 8 scooter crash that resulted in a pedestrian death. Both happened on Market Street in downtown San Francisco....

The uptick in the number of scooter-involved accidents occurred as ridership increased during the pandemic, according to a spokesperson for Lime, who said that the company recorded fewer than 135,000 rides before 2020, and almost 2.4 million rides since then....

See also Riding a bike is dangerous. Don't do it. Same for scooters.

The scooter safety graphic above: Why a rabbit instead of a child? Who do they think they're talking to?

Matt Davies